Clyde and Districts Lions Club member Kate Whyte said she was taking vegetables from her garden into the Alexandra community pantry and it occurred to her there could be one in Clyde too.
Fellow club member Sue Noble-Adams said while there were people in Clyde who struggled to buy food, there were also a lot of people who had gardens and grew far more than they could eat.
Other people could afford basic food but had nothing left for any extras that might elevate their meals.
The idea grew, and yesterday Lions club members put the final touches to the pantry at the corner of McMurray Pl and Shields St. The club built the pantry with donated and reused materials and members put the first groceries on the shelves.
However, its intention is the community will stock it and use it on a similar principle to Lilliput libraries, where people can bring books they have read and take another, just take one or just leave one.
Excess fruit and vegetables, leftover ingredients from meal kit deliveries, cans and packets, as long as they were in date, as well as jams and pickles, home-made or bought, would all be welcomed, it said.
Reducing food waste was a big driver for the pantry as well as helping those in need.
Eventually, the Lions club would create a social media page where people could post what had been left there, Mrs Whyte said.
